1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems for the protection of migratory birds and in particular to systems for discouraging or scaring away such migratory birds from an area, such as a polluted pond, that could be dangerous to them if they land upon it.
2. Prior Art
With the increased industrialization of our society disposal of waste so as to protect the environment, has become a monumental problem. Such environmental concerns, in addition to air and ground pollution, rightly include protecting the survival of animals and birds. Tragically, it is reported that over the last thirty years some three hundred (300) species of migratory birds alone have become extinct or are dangerously close to extinction. A partial responsibility for the heavy mortality of migratory birds rests with a proliferation of chemically imbalanced or otherwise contaminated man made ponds, such as tailings ponds, that are produced in mining operations, waste ponds, as are utilized in power generation stations, and the like. Migratory birds in flight do not discern or distinguish between good and bad ponds and often choose contaminated water as a refuge from stressful flight. This choice often results in their becoming victims of the contaminated water that they have landed upon. Such ponds are profusely scattered across North America, along the birds north-south migratory flyways. Prior to the invention, there has been little or no effective technology that deals with or even addresses the serious and continuing threat that these polluted ponds present to the lives of thousands of migratory birds. Further, to protect aircraft flight activities proximate to wet lands, for hazing and scaring birds away from aircraft flight paths.
Against a backdrop of increasing environmental concern for preservation of migratory birds and aircraft safety concerns, a number of schemes have been proposed to discourage birds from landing on polluted ponds and in wet lands proximate to airports. None, however up until the present invention, have been viable or effective, and in some situations seem to have caused more bird deaths than landing on the polluted waters would have. Specifically, nets have been stretched over ponds to restrict bird access, that birds landing in low light, as at sunrise or sunset, often cannot see and are caught in the net and die. Further, systems have been employed that, while they are not themselves lethal to birds, such as periodic firing of propane gas cannons, flashing of lights, and broadcasting different sounds, have not been effective as they have been set to operate at time intervals only and, as to airport areas may create more problems with bird activity than they solve. Such systems therefore do not stop birds from landing though they may scare them away after they have landed and become contaminated, and, for bird control at airports, may be offensive to anyone living in the neighborhood. Prior to the invention, there has not existed a system that is arranged to operate on sensing a birds flight path into a targeted area of a polluted pond or wet lands that, upon making that sensing, provides for operation of a number of strategically positioned lights, a modulated sound and moving devices as hazing and alarm devices to scare the approaching bird away prior to touching down. The present system can be programmed to trigger its operation based upon a sensing of a single bird and at selected time periods, and can provide, through a computer linkage, for a gathering of statistical information and for alerting a remote operator to bird activity around a pond or in an area of wet lands, and to pond conditions, or the like.